As a performer, I know what it’s like to get a bad review. It’s haunting, and it stays with you forever. I got one, that I know of…it was my first performance in 1978 in Atlantic City opening up for my friend Tony Orlando, and I was steaming when I got to my dressing room the next day. Tony came in and asked me what I thought. Of course, I suggested the reviewer was a jerk and didn’t know how to write. But that was before I knew what I was doing on stage. I figured I knew it all, when I was just learning. Tony taught me how to build an act and connect with the audience, and from that moment on, I realized that WHAT you do on stage is less important that HOW YOU CONNECT with the audience. All else is meaningless.
I bring this up as I write about the show I saw last night. I have been thinking about this all night long, wondering how I would address this show, because the performer is an icon in show business, someone who is respected and loved for his talents. But last night, what I saw was far from the flawless show I was expecting. I had to wake my wife several times, as the lack of laughter was so evident, and it was steaming hot, despite the air conditioning blasting because the nature of the room, an open showroom at the Cannery that has a back wall opened up to the summer night where people can sit in the bleachers.
On stage, the one-time king of the impersonators, Rich Little. All impressionists owe him (and Frank Gorshwin) a huge debt of gratitude for blazing the trail first. I remember as a kid, watching Rich Little on TV and admiring his ability to transform himself into famous people like John Wayne and Richard Nixon and Johnny Carson. I particularly remember him talking about the many months that went into his craft, how he studied his characters, their voice, inflections, mannerisms, until he got them right.
Rich Little...many voices, mostly the same one
Last night’s show was filled with those characters and more, mostly dead people whom we faintly remember, and they all sounded pretty much the same…some were not even close, and the jokes were so old they barely got a rise from the crowd. Jan kept looking at me and wondering why I was so excited about coming to this show. I expected so much more than what we saw. If Rich Little actually watched a tape of himself, I am sure he would agree…but the biggest flaw in is performance was his failure to connect with the audience, the kiss of death for anyone onstage. He was so wrapped up in his act, including his less-than-clever Republican-based put-downs of Harry Reid and Obama, that he forgot why he was there, or that there were all these people there to see him (over 400 free seats given out to fill up the room).
I guess I won’t be getting a holiday card from Rich Little this year, but as a fellow performer, I must say he missed the mark last night, and if he intends to keep working, he is in serious need of new material. Heck, I get funnier stuff almost every day in my email box. There were momentary flashes of greatness, but they were too few and far between to sustain any real response.
The only real laugh I remember was his line about playing at the Golden Nugget a few years back, an engagement that left many wondering if he was too far over the hill. He said “I was doing well there until my illness…people got sick of me”. Cymbal crash.
I wanted to go to his show to support him and show respect for a man who has been up on that stage forever, with Judy Garland and Frank Sinatra and Ed Sullivan. I wish him well, and I hope he takes the time to study his act and rework it to allow his greatness to shine once again, if he really wants to.
Read more in yesterday’s post (below) as well as articles from the best of Las Vegas entertainment journalists at www.vegasinsidetips.com
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